The client
Atherton Orchards is a premium apple producer based in Donnybrook, approximately three hours south of Perth in the fruit bowl of Western Australia. The property benefits from rich, well maintained soils and a reliable water supply from a large dam and three bores, producing outstanding quality Pink Lady apples that are supplied to markets around the world.
The orchard operates large packing sheds where the local Pink Lady apple harvest is packed and prepared for domestic and international distribution each season.
The challenge
During the apple packing season, the packing sheds at Atherton Orchards face a continuous cleaning challenge from the combination of farm machinery bringing in dirt and dust, and the leaves and stalks shed from the fruit during the packing process. The accumulation of this material across the packing shed floors requires regular sweeping to maintain clean and efficient working conditions throughout the harvest period.
Steve and Narita, the owners of Atherton Orchards, were in Perth and took the opportunity to visit the ASC warehouse to explore what sweeping machines were available. They arrived just minutes after ASC’s new Perth warehouse signage had been installed. WA Manager Ross Sheehan showed them the demonstration sweepers available on the showroom floor, including both the Eureka M2 ride-on sweeper and the Eureka M1 walk-behind sweeper, and invited Steve and Narita to try each machine themselves.
The result
Steve and Narita enjoyed trying both machines. The Eureka M2 ride on appealed with its Vespa-style handlebars and manoeuvrability. The Eureka M1 was familiar in size to their existing machine and straightforward to operate.
The deciding factor was practical: as Narita would be using the sweeper as much as the farmworkers, the ease of use and accessibility of the Eureka M1 walk behind made it the right choice for how the machine would actually be operated at the orchard. They chose the Eureka M1.
Ross coordinated the delivery efficiently, combining the Atherton Orchards machine with a larger machine being delivered to Manjimup, which was just past Donnybrook on the delivery route. The timing worked perfectly, with the new sweeper arriving just as the orchard was building up to the picking season.
